Safety lines? We don't need no stinkin' safety lines!
Posted on 10/11/2009 9:37:58 AM PDT by BGHater
The new World Trade Center, now under construction, is often considered a symbol of American enterprise. But to some union members and U.S. businesses, it represents what's wrong with the nation's economy.
The contract to manufacture the blast-resistant glass wrapping the main tower's first 20 stories was awarded earlier this year to a Chinese firm that underbid U.S. competitors.
Now the trade tensions between the United States and China that have arisen recently over tires, steel and paper are spreading to glass.
"This new tower is going to be made out of subsidized Chinese glass, putting factory workers out of their jobs in America," said Scott Paul, director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a partnership of the United Steelworkers and some manufacturers.
On Thursday, the Alliance sent a letter to U.S. trade officials asking that they address what they see as unfair trade practices. Specifically, the group says that the Chinese government spends billions of dollars subsidizing the glass industry's energy costs.
"Our domestic glass industry is the most efficient in the world, but it cannot compete against production that is heavily subsidized by the Chinese government," according to the letter. "As a result, glass production in the U.S. has suffered in recent years, with plant closings and thousands of lost jobs throughout the country."
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are slated for trade meetings in Hangzhou, China, later this month.
A Chinese spokesman on trade issues did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. glass industry has lost more than 40,000 jobs since 2000, according to Department of Labor figures, even as the Chinese glass industry has experienced explosive growth. Between 2000 and 2008, U.S. imports of Chinese glass have tripled.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
>>When the next big war comes, and we can’t get foreign-supplied gas or oil spare parts for our foreign-made aircraft and weapons, and our foreign-grown food supplies are cut off, and our foreign-built and foreign-ported merchant ships won’t carry our troops, I hope someone is still around to remind you of your love for the big integrated world market.<<
You “argue” like a liberal. I am not professing “love” of anything. I am acknowledging the reality. You can no more uncouple the current world marketplace than you can hold back a hurricane with your finger.
And your statement is, of course, wrong to 10 decimal places. The US is still the number one manufacturer in the world and could gear up in months if the world decided to go nuts like you suggest. But I am sure you will be safe in your shelter with secret passwords and 10 years of SPAM tins and beer to use as currency.
Pie in the sky dreaming and “oh me oh my” whining accomplishes exactly nothing.
I have never bought an American car. No desire to, either. That doesn’t make me less patriotic or less American.
>>Absolutely. But when you look at the price, remember to consider the hidden costs. If you buy from someone local, they are more likely than someone remote to take some of that money and turn around and buy your product, so the local product might be a little bit better deal than it looks. I’m absolutely NOT saying always buy American, but consider more than just the price on the invoice in your purchasing decisions.<<
So, when you buy groceries, you always make sure they are locally grown? That is a heck of an extra investment of research to buy some rutabagas.
I live in L.A. and work in VA — what is “local” to me? Who should I support? “Support the local economy” didn’t make sense in the 20th century and is naive at best and absurd at worst in the 21st.
Nice idea, but not practical.
>>You got it all covered. The Hubris of the Liberal<<
“So’s your old lady” — if that is the best a “Conservative” can do, we are doomed.
Your lack of understanding of economics doth not make anyone else (much less me) a liberal.
>>I have never bought an American car. No desire to, either. That doesn’t make me less patriotic or less American.<<
According to the 19th century denizens of this thread, it does. It also makes you a liberal (I know, a distinction without a difference).
Correct dogmatic thinking is all that is allowed. Do not mislead with facts and the like.
Snopes has something to say about Chinese-made pyrex glassware and it’s not good. Just FYI.
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp
Good post
Looks like the the implosion of the US economy has taught these potato heads nothing. They were advocating free trade in the face of 750 billion dollar trade deficits at the bubbles peak....down to 350 billion these days
Debt to foreigners means nothing to them even after the collapse. The Chinse have an answer to such arrogance and it is dumping US dollars or what they are doing now which is boycotting Treasury auctions
Let Wall Street run wild w derivitives and run up huge trade deficit for decades and you will be left with a dogshit currency
You prefer 750 billion dollar trade deficits. You prefer the financial ruin this made along with the derivatives masters of Wall Street
To stop this train wreck I would have imposed tarriffs decades ago to protect American industry from Chinese and others. I would have freed up energy expoloration in the US and greatly curbed OSHA and the EPA
Safety lines? We don't need no stinkin' safety lines!
Trade deficits can be overcome, but not the way you envision them. As far as financial ruin, that is at the feet of barney franks and the subprime real estate loan industry (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the democratic party). You better point to me which part of international commodities trade created this financial dip.
To stop this train wreck I would have imposed tarriffs decades ago to protect American industry from Chinese and others. I would have freed up energy expoloration in the US and greatly curbed OSHA and the EPA
So, you prefer expensive, very expensive, items? And of course, the multi-trillion export industry would shut down under your closed-door policies. The worldwide hyperinflation (and concomitant potential military tension) you are proposing may be OK for you, but I wouldn't want it.
As far as energy exploration and the like, I agree completely. What does that have to do with buying Chinese glass?
—— OK you tell me how to solve the trade deficit problem
The federal treasury and government used to be funded by tariffs....so i fail to see what the big deal is
Reality in the sense of economics is nothing but what we make it. We could "decouple" the U.S. from the world market at a whim; our country possesses all things (or their substitutes) in abundance.
The US is still the number one manufacturer in the world
Please support this assertion with recent, reliable statistics.
The US... could gear up in months if the world decided to go nuts like you suggest.
Please support this assertion with recent, reliable evidence.
A true conservative would insist that his or her country be self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs, energy, and heavy industry at the least, supporting this self-sufficiency with tarriffs and/or subsidies as necessary.
At least it will be “assembled in America of foreign-made components”, eh lol
Exactly....these free trader types sre entranced by the bangles and baubles of international trade and they worship at that alter
The US could in fact be an autarky.... Which means nation that can live on its own resources. Need not trade with anyone. We should move in that direction. Now watch the hysterics pop up and say I advocate 100% autarky
It must be nice to be in your world. No reality to deal with.
The US is still the number one manufacturer in the world
Please support this assertion with recent, reliable statistics.
See Post 7.
The US... could gear up in months if the world decided to go nuts like you suggest.
Please support this assertion with recent, reliable evidence.
If you have so little faith in the US ability to get things done, I won't try to talk you out of it.
We did pretty good in that little dustup in the 40s, though.
A true conservative would insist that his or her country be self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs, energy, and heavy industry at the least, supporting this self-sufficiency with tarriffs and/or subsidies as necessary.
A true conservative understands the world he/she lives in and deals accordingly, not some fantasy world where we can just dictate what everyone will do. Protecitionism is for cowards and people who think the US can't compete.
And a final note about foodstuffs. I know that we do indeed produce more foodstuffs than is necessary. In California alone we produce more cabbage, lettuce, onions and the like than the rest of the world combined. I am from here and know the local economy. We export grain, we export meat. The import part is the mix of the foodstuffs, not the basics. If you don't even know that then there is no point continuing this.
I can't go on discussing this with someone who won't acknowledge reality. Go back to your storage shed and peer out through the slide-hole while asking for the secrte password. Those of us brave enough to live in and matutre enough to understand our world will make sure the boogy man doesn't get ya.
Lower taxes and lower tariffs. Have the federal government live within its means and really zero out the federal deficit.
Unleash the true potential of American resourcefulness and watch. It is things like multi-trillion dollar federal deficit that are a millstone on the necks of American business.
That we CAN do, if we have political will and vote out the clowns that are running this country into the ground.
Lower what tarrifs? Our tariffs are a joke if we have any. We had 750 billion dollar trade deficits. This means the tariffs you cite must have been pretty pathetic
The measures you advocate are not enough for US industry to compete agsainst Chinese/Asian labor
PLUS I’m onto the game of “free traders”. They don’t give a crap about trade deficits
During Bill Clinton's latter years we had a very small Federal budget deficit. It was zero or near zero some years
Yet we had a huge trade deficit...prolly was 200 billion or so back then.. And it was growing to the crazy numbers of the GWBush years
GW was like you a starry eyed free trade idealist
He could care less about trade deficits
I doubt I ever heard him mention it
Bush and Chris Cox (head of SEC) also were 100% hands off with Wall Street and that's why we have the mess we do. They let Wall Street run wild with derivatives and securitizing mortgages
The chart in your #7 is unhelpful. It lists US manufactures vs. other countries, but it neither defines “manufacturing” nor “domestic”. As we both know, by juggling the numbers, it is possible to count many foreign-assembled products (e.g. automobiles) as being “made in USA”, and also to count foreign companies with plants in the USA as “domestic manufacturers”.
In order to change my mind and support your point, I want to know how much product is being produced within the continental United States by 100% US-owned companies. Here are the numbers I want to see:
1. The percentage of steel used in the US that is produced in the US from US-origin ores and/or scrap
2. The number of U.S-made cars that are 100% assembled in the U.S.
3. The number of parts in a U.S.-built automobile that are made entirely in the U.S. from domestic raw materials
4. The number of U.S.-flagged merchant ships built in the U.S. vs. the number built in foreign countries
5. The number of machine tools produced in the U.S. vs. those produced overseas
6. The number of U.S.-owned major appliance manufacturers vs. foreign-owned major appliance manufacturers
7. The number of U.S.-owned textile, shoe, and finished garment manufacturers vs. foreign-owned textile, shoe, and finished garment manufacturers
8. The percentage of wheat consumed in the U.S. that was grown within the continental U.S.
9. The percentage of corn consumed in the U.S. that was grown within the continental U.S.
10. The percentage of energy consumed in the U.S. that was produced within the continental U.S. from U.S. fuels
And so forth. Please, do enlighten us!
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